


Pining by the Pier

by UnhelpfulPanda



Series: JohnDave Week [13]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Merpeople, JohnDave Week, Love at First Sight, M/M, mermaid Dave
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-05
Updated: 2018-07-05
Packaged: 2019-06-05 16:25:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15174680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnhelpfulPanda/pseuds/UnhelpfulPanda
Summary: A mashup of The Little Mermaid, Homestuck, and maybe also Spirited Away?Seven year old mermaid Dave saves seven year old John from drowning, and it's love as first sight. And it's somehow still love at first sight fourteen years later.late day 3 of johndaveweek 2018, paranormal romance (I'm very bad at genres so idk if this actually counts?)





	Pining by the Pier

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not too happy with how this turned out, but I wrote it while out and about with my family on Fourth of July.
> 
> fuck idk just take it

**Be John = >**

Your name was John Egbert, you were seven years old, and you were drowning.

Drowning was weird. It kind of hurt at first, and you panicked as you sank, but then you just felt tired. Tired and cold. You felt weightless and as heavy as lead all at once, sinking slowly now that you’d stopped flailing.

You wanted to close your eyes and sleep, to be honest. And you felt sort of sad that you wouldn’t ever see your dad again. You wouldn’t really see anyone again, and that made you scared and lonely.

And then someone was linking their arms under your armpits, and you smiled to yourself at the touch. You weren't alone. You weren’t going to die.

“Hang on, bro. I gotcha,” the person murmured to you, and his voice was much clearer than it should have been while underwater. Were you still underwater?

And then your head broke the surface and you coughed up water, choking and desperately breathing in lungfuls of air.

Your savior swam you to the shore, laying you down on the wet sand and laying down beside you. Unlike you, he wasn’t breathing heavily at all. His blonde hair was messy and his skin was pale and freckled, his eyes ruby red and shimmering.

He smiled gently at you. “Are you okay?” he asked. You nodded, still unable to speak while you caught your breath. “My name is Dave, what’s yours?” he asked.

“J-John,” you struggled. You were still so tired. Your savior, Dave frowned at you and touched your face gently. The last thing you saw before you passed out was, beginning at his hips, his legs were replaced by a fish’s tail.

* * *

When you awoke, it was to your dad shaking you awake. “John, how did you- are you okay??” he asked, hugging you tightly. You were still soaking wet and now that it was starting to get dark, freezing.

“I-I don’t know,” you whimpered, eyes welling with tears. You buried your face in his shirt and sobbed. Dad kissed the top of your head and then picked you up, holding you tight and rubbing your back to warm you up.

Dad took you back home, changed your clothes, and wrapped you up in a bunch of fluffy blankets.He set you up in front of the TV with your favorite movies and some ice cream, and you felt a lot better.

That night, and for the next fourteen years after, you had murky dreams of red eyes, a sweet singsong voice, and a gentle hand on your face.

Interestingly enough, it took you until you were 21 before you remembered that night’s rescue with vivid clarity, and that’s because you took shots with your cousin and got completely wasted.

You finally remembered his face, his voice, his name… everything. Maybe most importantly, you remembered his glittering red mermaid tail.

The next morning, before the sun had even risen in the sky or the pain killers for your hangover had kicked in, you called yourself an Uber and got them to drive you to the pier.

Your dad had never come back to the pier with you after your accident, even though you whined and complained that you  _ ‘would be careful this time, pleeeeease _ !!’ He didn’t budge, too scared that you would get hurt again.

This time, it was just you. And this time, you bypassed the pier entirely, instead choosing to go under it.

The ocean rushed up to meet your sneakers, soaking through your socks unpleasantly, but you didn’t care. You searched the gently rolling waves for your red eyed mermaid.

“Dave!” you called. “Dave!”

* * *

**Be Dave = >**

Your name was Dave, you were a mermaid, and you just witnessed a human child fall into the sea you called your home.

Humans have to breathe, you thought to yourself. He was going to die if you didn’t help him. He needed you!

You started to swim towards him, but then a thought froze you in place.

**Mermaids are forbidden from interacting with humans** .

Your family would disown you. You were only seven, how would you survive alone?? Was a human worth losing your entire family?

The human boy had such sad blue eyes, though. He looked… lonely. All at once, you knew the answer to your question.

**_Yes_ ** . He was worth it.

You rushed forward and hooked your arms under his armpits. He gave you a dazed smile, and you frowned.

“Hang on, bro. I gotcha,” you murmured, and his smile grew. He trusted you to save him, and that’s what you were going to do.

You hauled him up to the surface, and he spluttered and coughed up water, heaving in frantic breaths.

You swam him to shore, laying him down on the wet sand and hoisting yourself out of the water to lay with him.

He was gorgeous, the prettiest person you’ve ever seen. His eyes were impossibly blue, and his black hair was wild and unruly.

You gave him a shy, infatuated smile.  “Are you okay?” you asked him. He hesitated before nodding, still unable to speak while he caught his breath. “My name is Dave, what’s yours?” you introduced.

“J-John,” he whispered, eyes fluttering. You frowned down at him, concerned he would pass out, and reached out to gently caress his cheek. He glanced down at your tail, eyes widening, and then he went limp.

You checked that he was still alive before deciding you should probably get out of here. You could hear an adult human running towards your location, shouting John’s name. You dove back into the sea and swam off.

Predictably, your family kicked you out. Unpredictably, your older brother Dirk refused to leave your side, which meant he was also kicked out. He was indifferent about it, but you still felt bad.

No matter what, you couldn’t shake the desire to hang around the pier. You felt like a fucking idiot; of course John wouldn’t hang around the pier he almost died at.

But still, you waited. For fourteen years, you waited.

* * *

It came as a surprise, of course, when one morning as you surfaced to watch the sun rise in the sky, you heard a voice call your name.

It couldn’t be him.

It had been fourteen years since you saved him.

He probably forgot all about you.

“Dave!”

Against your better judgment, you swam towards the voice.

When you saw him on the beach, your mind reeled.

John was  _ here _ . John  _ came back _ .

“Dave…” he trailed off, staring at you in awe. “You're real,” he whispered.

“I waited for you, John,” you told him, sounding a bit pouty. He looked ashamed of himself.

“I just remembered what happened. I’m sorry it took me so long, Dave. But… I’m here now,” he smiled gently, holding out his arms for you.

Unable to contain yourself (but really, you had contained yourself for fourteen years, you were done with that), you lept out of the water and right into the human’s arms, wrapping your tail around him.

“I never thought I’d see you again,” you whimpered into the crook of his neck, feeling tears well up in your eyes.

“I know, I’m sorry,” he sighed, pulling back so he could gaze into your eyes. Then he leaned forward and kissed you. You kissed back, laughing softly against his lips. “I love you, Dave,” he sighed softly once your lips had parted.

“I love you too, John,” you whispered in return.

You don’t know what the future holds for the two of you. All you know is that this was love at first sight, and after all the pining, didn’t you deserve to see where this goes?

The answer is yes, hell fucking yes.


End file.
